Can You Survive “Five Nights at Freddy’s”?

I have a confession to make: I only made it through one night of Five Nights at Freddy’s. And I died at the end of that night. It turns out that while I really hate jump scares, I hate jump scares via giant animatronic animals with mouths filled with teeth even more. And then I ended up staying up late because I was so freaked out. So, with that disclaimer out of the way…

What would you do for $120? Take the night watch for a week at Freddy’s, a local pizza joint? Sure, it comes out to $4/hr, a laughable wage, but you’re not doing much beyond staring at cameras and playing Minecraft on the sly.

Or not, because it turns out those giant animatronic animals come alive at night. And they want nothing more than to come say hello.

Gameplay is super minimal, limited to turning the hallway light on and off and shutting the doors to your room. You spend most of your time gazing at the cameras, moving from screen to screen to try and keep an eye on the giant not-so-cuddly animals. What’s preventing you from just leaving the lights on and shutting the doors all night? Well, you have a power meter that indicates how much electricity you have left…and you don’t want to be left alone in the dark with these guys.

My favorite (and creepiest) touch is that you never see the monsters move unless they’re about to kill you. Just move the camera around and suddenly there’s a ten-foot tall grinning duck in the corner whose bib reads “Let’s Eat!” Eat what? Oh god, is it me? It’s totally me.